Baku, Azerbaijan, May 15
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
Saudi Arabia will hold a joint business forum with Azerbaijan in November 2015, Azerbaijani Minister of Economy and Industry Shahin Mustafayev said at the Azerbaijani-Saudi Arabian business forum in Baku May 15.
"We have already reached a preliminary agreement on holding another business forum in Saudi Arabia in November," he said.
He said that the current business forum between the two countries is the second one.
"The first business forum was held in December 2013 as part of the intergovernmental commission," he said.
He said that the relations between the two countries are at a high level, particularly in the political sphere.
"Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's visit to Saudi Arabia in April 2015 can be called as the best index of relations between the countries," he said.
Mustafayev stressed the need to enhance the economic cooperation level up to the political one.
The minister regretted that the trade turnover between the countries does not correspond to the level of relations between the two countries.
"In this regard, it is important to expand relations between our entrepreneurs," he said.
"Azerbaijan is an attractive country for making investments. This is stipulated by a number of factors, including political and macroeconomic stability.
Mustafayev also stressed the need to establish a legal framework between the two countries.
"Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia can cooperate in the fields of agriculture, ICT, industry, alternative energy," he said. "In these areas we have concrete projects. We invite Saudi Arabian businessmen's cooperation."
He also stressed the possibilities for making joint investments in the third countries.
He said that the agreements reached as part of today's business forum will be the basis for signing the new agreements in Saudi Arabia in November 2015.
The business forum is supported by the Ministry of Economy and Industry of Azerbaijan. It brings together the representatives of over 100 companies of Saudi Arabia.
According to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia as of 2014 amounted to $14.66 million, which is two times less compared to 2013. Some $14.5 million accounted for the imports of Saudi Arabian goods to Azerbaijan in 2014.
Edited by CN
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